Cherry: Pop Electric
by Lulu2006
Summary: Sakura fakes her own death and leaves town for good. Years later the remaining Team 7 is sent to bring her back, only problem is she's a famous Pop Star in need of therapy.
1. Cherry

Disclaimer: This Is Merely Fan Fiction. I Don't own anything.

: The day had started off so well:

Naruto sighed and inhaled the fresh summer air. Soon he'd have to report for his next mission, but right now he silently thanked god for such a wonderful breeze.

"Yo."

Keeping his eyes closed, and still lost in a world of bright red Naruto replied, "Yes?"

He didn't need to open his eyes to know who decided to intrude on his summer day. Instead he continued laying on the grass waiting for Kakashi's reply.

"The Hokage needs us, be there in ten minutes. Bye," and just like that Kakashi disappeared in his trademark poof.

...So much for enjoying the first day of summer. 

With a stretch and another sigh Naruto slowly sat up and opened his eyes.

It truly was a beautiful day, the breeze was perfect and the few clouds above only added to the sun's beauty. 

After a couple of cloud watching sessions with Shikamaru, Naruto himself had decided to slow down every now and then to enjoy the small wonderful things in life.

Too bad work had to ruin a wonderful morning once again.

With another sigh, Naruto stretched and decided that he needed to leave now or else he wouldn't ever make to the Hokage's office.

: 20 Minutes Later:

"Naruto, you're late," Sasuke loudly whispered to Naruto as the young blonde entered the room, officially ten minutes late. 

In return Naruto only smirked and stopped next to Sasuke.

"Really, I didn't notice," Naruto replied bored and inwardly smirked at Sasuke's annoyed face.

There stood the remaining team seven, to the far right stood Kakashi for once not reading his book, Sasuke stood to his right (annoyed face in place), and lastly Naruto who at the moment only held a relaxed look.

"I have an important mission for you three, it's a retrieval mission," Tsunade looked at the three men who stood before her and wondered if they were ready.

"The name is Cherry; I know you three don't pay attention to the entertainment industry, so I'll bring you up to date. If you'll proceed to pay attention to the screen…" 

There on the Hokages desk (which at the moment was mysteriously clean) sat a medium sized television attached to a DVD player.

Within a few minutes the DVD player started up and the screen soon showed the main menu to the unknown DVD.

There in bright pink letters read "Cherry: Full Music Video Collection," and below it showed a few videos to choose from.

"…Forbidden Fruit, Everything I'm Not, Stereo, umm Freakshow… what exactly are we watching," a very confused Naruto asked a bit too loudly.

"Shut up." 

"You shut up!"

Sasuke and Naruto glared at each other both daring the other to look away, too focused on their silent war they both failed to realize that the video had already been selected.

"I should have known the day we met…" 

Naruto and Sasuke stood there both at a loss for words and the screen showed the video for Cherry's "If It's Alright," unsure of what they were watching.

But there stood Sakura clad in a very revealing black dress, blonde hair curly, cherry red lips, and black knee highs. 

Her knees slightly open as she kneeled before the camera, singing and running her hands through her blonde hair. The scene changed and soon she was rolling around a white bed, once again displaying a strong sexual woman. Her song was about a lost lover and her video left a lasting impression. 

All three men silently watched as Sakura sang and danced provocatively on the television screen.

Finally Kakashi broke the silence, "What is the meaning of this?"

"That is Sakura, I mean Cherry, and I want you three to go retrieve her."

"But…I mean how…wait… huh?" 

"I think what Naruto means to say is… How exactly did this," Sasuke motioned towards the television screen, "happen?" 

"Sakura asked to leave the village about five years ago as I'm sure you three didn't know. She said she needed to live a normal life and wished to no longer be part of this village. So after much thought she was allowed to leave the village and seek this "normal life" and do as she pleased. However due to circumstances she has been told to return to the village, politely mind you. But I just received a letter early this morning informing me that she didn't wish to return to the village."

Tsunade folded her hands and waited for the information to seep into teams sevens system.

"Why were we not told about this before," Naruto asked in a hushed tone.

"She requested that no one know of her departure. So it was decided to let everything think she died while on a mission. However she has become a star in the past three years, her songs have been heard worldwide. Sakura's videos and merchandise has not been released internationally so far, and all that has been seen in these parts have been burned CD's. This year Sakura's label will release everything starting next month, meaning her image will be seen worldwide. When she asked to leave, she clearly stated that she wished to live a "normal" life, however she is not living a normal life and the council wishes to have her brought back for punishment."

"What kind of punishment," Kakashi's voice broke the already settling silence.

"They have yet to decide, but they wish for her to be brought back as soon as possible. You three leave in an hour, here's her location, and be sure to not cause any suspicion. Dismissed!" 

With a nod from all three they quickly disappeared leaving a worried Tsunade.

"Let's hope she doesn't put up a fight, this should be easy…"

Songs belong to:

Forbidden Fruit-Jessica Simpson, Everything I'm Not- The Veronicas, Stereo-Paulina Rubio, Freakshow-Britney Spears, If It's Alright-Lindsay Lohan.

Frist fan fic, be kind.


	2. Bleach

Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto or any of the characters associated. 

Lets begin now 

* * *

_I hate my pink hair. I hate bleach. I hate this noise. And is this diet coke?_

"MINA! Is this diet coke?"

"Miss Sakura, I'm sorry but you said if there wasn't…." 

Mina, Sakura's small assistant had been assigned to her a year after she had been signed on with her label. She was by all standards an excellent assistant and Sakura sometimes felt bad for her attitude towards the young brunette. One look at her assistants big brown eyes and she suddenly felt bad for her sudden outburst.

"Just forget it!" 

Sakura could feel the headache starting to grow. 

Today would be her birthday, twenty six and already she was an accomplished "Pop Princess," hell she was also a millionaire.

Sakura sat cross legged on a pearl chair waiting for her hair dresser to finish up. 

Once a month Sakura had her hair bleached, bleaching out any pink that was found on her pretty little head. IT had been the first thing she did before she started up on her career, and it was a smart decision at that. Because having natural pink hair only made her upset and reminded her of…

She bit her tongue to stop her thoughts. 

Konoha was now a thing of her past, and the world before her now was all she needed to think about. 

_Out with the old and in with the new._

"How much longer is this going to take Cesar," Sakura's annoyed voice rang through her expensive mansion.

"Miss Cherry, your natural hair color is pink; it's actually hard to bleach it out. So why don't you sit back and relax, by the way Devlin told me that you needed to listen to final cut of your CD today." 

Cesar her hair dresser for about three years now; was also the labels hired hair dresser. He was outrages looking, with bright blue hair and a purple suit, sometimes she wondered about his sexuality. 

If you're wondering about the hair dresser…It was in her contract when she signed on with Single Star Entertainment, she needed a personal hair dresser to keep her trademark blonde hair. The label actually thought her pink hair would make her more appealing but after a few weeks they finally gave in and accepted her 'bleached' look.

And Devlin was her manager and producer, he had been the one to suggest that she should go into the music business "pop is perfect for you" he had said. He was in his early thirties and a famous singer turned manager/producer to many singers. Sakura was lucky to have him on her side, if it wasn't for him she doubted her career would be what it was today. 

Devlin was also her infatuation he was tall smart and held authority. His spiky black hair and clear grey eyes reminded her of Sasuke and she sometimes hated herself for being attracted to someone who reminded her so much of her old love.

Slowly she lifted her head phones and placed them neatly into her ears and pressed play. Instantly she was sucked into a world of pop music (her own) where she moaned and added very little musical talent to her songs, yet the public loved it. And Sakura hated to admit it but sometimes she wished she hadn't been sucked into the entertainment world. But what could she do now?

Just as her music start it instantly stopped and someone had reached over and unplugged her ear phones.

"Damn it. What the…" Sakura opened her eyes to look questionably at who she thought was Mina her petite assistant, but instead found Kakashi.

"You look different Sakura," Kakashi's serious voice hinted to her that he was in fact unhappy with her.

_Well duh._

"Yeah well… people change. How did you get in here?" 

She instantly wished she could take back her words. But on second thought maybe her attitude would make him go away, she highly doubted it.

"Well my word, who are you? I'm Cesar, the princess's hair stylist as you can tell; I'm currently bleaching her hair… But maybe we should…" 

"Not interested," Kakashi easily broke off any further conversation with the blue haired stylist. Cesar merely huffed and pouted before he proceeded to go back to his job.

Even after all these years Kakashi still held sex appeal, even with his mask in place. She had seen his face once before she left and now years later she finally understood why women threw themselves at her former teacher.

"I'd like to interrupt this lovely reunion, to inform you that Cherry needs to wash her hair, she'll be right back." 

For once Sakura actually wanted to thank Cesar for his interruption.

"Oh well go ahead, I'll be waiting right here." 

As Cesar led her away Sakura twisted around to look at her former teacher, just in time to see him wave and what she assumed by his eye…smile.

_Well Damn._

It'd been years really since she "died" and yet seeing her there sitting there looking as alive as ever in white, made Kakashi almost wish that she really had died.

Because the Sakura he knew might as well be dead.

"She didn't notice us," Sasuke's irritated tone broke into the now silent room.

"Seems so," was the only reply that Kakashi could give him.

"So what do we do now? Wait till she finishes up coloring her hair…Stupid." 

"Sasuke, where is Naruto?" 

* * *

_Ugh today was suppose to be nice!_

"Cesar how does it look…" Sakura's hair stylists merely replied with a clipped 'fine' and continued applying the hair color.

"So how long till it you can wash it out… it's not going to take forever like the bleach?"

"No princess. It'll be over in about ten minutes. Till then sit tight and I'll be right back, I'll be in the little boy's room."

Keeping her eyes closes Sakura heard Cesar's retreating steps and hoped that those ten minutes would hurry up. Today was supposed to be relaxing, yet it wasn't.

"Stupid Kakashi with his stupid mask and whatever hot body," she could feel her body start to tense up and her growing headache was now in full force.

"I need something to drink; now I know I kept a bottle of brandy somewhere around here…" Slowly opening her emerald eyes and scanning around the room she spotted her craving sitting there on her white dresser.

Her room just like the rest of the mansion was dressed in different shades of white. She wore nothing but white or black and made sure that there wasn't a speck of dirt visible anywhere in the house… even going as far as cleaning the house herself late at night.

It had become a bad habit, and sometimes she wondered if she was sick. 

Silently lowering herself from her white stool she silently made her way to the brandy silently calling out to her from across the room.

"You'll only make your headache worse Sakura-chan." 

The voice was like music to her ears, and she felt like turning around and hugging him, but that was then and this was now.

"Mmm… Naruto, it really has been a long time. Maybe a bit to drink will break the ice?" 

Sakura slowly turned around to face her would have been husband. 

And there he was in all his glory still as handsome as ever, his spiky blonde hair, big blue eyes, and signature orange outfit.

Once upon a time she had loved him, but now all she felt was empty.

"Maybe you should take care of that headache before you—" 

"No." Cutting him off Sakura proceeded to raise the bottle up to her lips and allowed the strong liquor to burn its way into her empty stomach. Sure once she would have easily taken her headache away, it was easy for a medic to do, but she had swore a long time ago that she would leave behind her talents along with Konoha. 

"Okay baby time to wash it out! Oh my… it must be raining men."

"Cesar just take care of my hair and ignore the man in the ridicules orange outfit."

Naruto just stared back at her, and she willed herself to ignore the horrible pain in her chest.


	3. Pop Electric

Disclaimer: I Own Nothing! 

Cherry Pop Electric

"There you are sweet lips, pretty in pink no more. So I'll be going now. I'll let Devlin know you're all set and be on my way." Cesar slowly stood up and admired his work.

Sakura (Cherry) was a beautiful girl, too bad that the business was slowly starting to get to her. He saw it in every other pop singer he worked with; eventually she too would burn out. The public loved her and she obeyed the labels every whim, going as far as posing in skimpy underwear for a well known men's magazine.

He'd been there from the beginning she was broken then too. Somewhere deep inside he had hoped that maybe money would fix her up, but that too only made things worse. The first year she was shy and refused to do anything that made her feel uncomfortable. She had requested for her hair to be colored blonde, she claimed that blonde suited her better… In truth her pink locks made her look innocent, and would have worked better for her. 

The second year she began losing more weight and had picked up drinking along with a few cigarettes her and there. That year she also started having odd shifts in her moods, on screen and in the studio she was fine, but off screen she wasn't. The label decided it was best for her to see a doctor, and that's when the pills came into play. Even Mina and Cesar didn't know what kinds of drugs they had started giving her but she took them whenever she was feeling upset or unwell, which was every day.

The third year was no different, of course more and more bottles of pills began to appear on her dresser. This year was no different but he had found out a few things about: her now that was usually dazed and unfocused. She was a once a medic-nin, she had great potential from what she said, and was once to be married. 

"_You know… I would have been married by now, had I not left. He really loved me, but I couldn't love him the way he loved me. I loved another and had my heart broken when he went off and married my best friend, I should have married him after all. Where do you think I'd be? Maybe I'd have little blue eyed kids with cute little whiskers just like him. Cesar…" Sakura's glazed over dim green gems met his own green eyes._

"_You're hairs done. Do you need any help—"_

"_The rooms spinning, did I already shoot the video? I forget— every set looks the same."_

_She looked lovely in her short black dress and knee highs; glitter glistened off her pearl white skin, rosy cheeks from too much liquor and beautiful expensive rings on each finger. To him she looked like a fairy and would soon be shooting her next music video "If It's Alright."_

"_Here let me help you to the set Sakura." Slowly helping her up to her feet, Cesar proceeded to help her to the set._

_It was then that he vowed to help her, because she would be the last celebrity that he'd watch burn out. If he couldn't help her out in his own way, he'd find her family or friends and let them know…_

"Yeah sure…"Her slow response brought Cesar back from his memories of her.

"Look sugar; lay off the booze for today. You have guest." And with a wink and a nod Cesar made his way out of the 'blondes' life forever.

* * *

_Inner you— think that maybe being blonde isn't all that fun._

"Well you know outer you likes being blonde, fuck. The rooms spinning…" 

_We're drunk—_

"No we are not, now where the hell are my pills. My headache is only getting worse… doctor prescribed and legal. Sure to be found in my 300 dollar purse."

_CHA! _

"And the Hokage thought we'd have trouble bringing her back."

_Wait is that Sasuke? That good for nothing—_

And then everything faded to black.

"Sasuke you bastard, you didn't have to knock her out!" Naruto's voice filled the blackness and Sakura wondered if she had actually overdosed for once.

"Really you two, you never change. Naruto it's best if she's knockout in this condition—" Kakashi's serious voice soon joined Naruto's in Sakura's now soon fading black world.

"You guys… I really hope I overdosed… otherwise I know I'm going to have a rude awakening." Sakura's last words silenced the three men crowding around her.

She looked lovely still all in white, passed out on her white bed, in her white room, rosy cheeks and red lip stick.

"She's still annoying." One could only guess whose response that was.

_Freaking A _

**CHERRY: POP ELECTRIC**

**Review by Dane S.**

The lovely blonde's new album is sure to sell out the minute it hits the stores. Every song is full of life and is sure to keep the party going. With her newest single already out being played on radio stations everywhere it's only a matter of time before her new music video is out. 

The album is called Pop Electric, the title fits perfect seeing as every song is filled with electricity and is sure to keep fans wanting more. 

The only problem is …where is Cherry? Her label is not commenting on the pop stars recent disappearance from the public eye, she hasn't done any promotional appearance for her album and rumor has it she hasn't even started shooting her new video.

Don't worry the minute we find out YOU find out. 

Here to update you 24/7!

-Dane S.

Forever More Celebrity News Online

* * *

_Where am I?_ Sakura asked herself as she slowly started to wake up. She knew she was lying down somewhere and by the smell of it and feels of it, she knew she wasn't home.

_I'm going to go with, not at home._

"Smart ass…" Sakura inwardly groaned and decided that now would be a good time to finally open her eyes.

The first thing she noticed was that she in fact was no longer at home. The second thing she noticed was that she was currently in what looked like a hospital room. And the third thing she noticed was Shikamaru sitting next to her bed, obviously annoyed.

"I'll go inform the Hokage that you're awake." He stood up and began making his way towards the door.

"Wait! How did I get here, and how long have I been here?" 

He slowly turned to her, his dark eyes bearing into her own. He had changed over the years, he looked older for sure, still wore his hair in its signature hair style, but he had changed, and she couldn't pin point exactly how.

"I've been told to tell you nothing, and to inform the Hokage that you're awake the minute you wake up." And with that he disappeared into the hospital hallway leaving Sakura alone in a hospital located in the one placed she rather not be.

* * *

I know I'm taking forever with this story.

-lulu


	4. Sugar Pop Electric

Disclaimer: I Own Nothing... Except for the characters I made up. Otherwise watch Naruto on Cartoon Network, buy the manga and the boxsets.

-lulu over and out.

The radio slowly buzzed to life.

_"I'm—I'm—gonna be—Sugar Pop Electric… (Whispered) Sugar Pop Electric… Yeah"_

_Oh hell… I sound so electronic._

_**But sexy, don't deny it.**_

_Slutty and electronic it is._

_"Not gonna be anything you've ever seen. Nothing in-between & I've gotta be—"_

Then there was silence.

_Maybe the world's radio waves have died—_

"Sorry, I just don't like pop."

His voice slowly pulled her out from the darkness. But she still refused to open her eyes.

"I know you're awake." _Always as smart as ever… no matter what age._

"You know a great deal of things, but I refuse to stay awake. I'm sick; tell them to give me something…" Sakura slowly rolled onto her back, finally opening her glazed faded emerald eyes.

"She'll be here soon to speak with you."

Finally willing herself to turn in his direction, Sakura looked at Shikamaru and tried to picture him as he was the last time she saw him five years in a half to be exact. He looked younger then lazy as always but his face didn't look as tired as it did now—Ino had broken him in more ways than one.

"It's too bad. Because I plan on leaving before she gets here. I request to be discharged. I'm not sick and I have a career that requires me to be in the public eye. And last of all I have a headache, so be a nice little Shika and go get them to give me some pills." She felt faint and unfocused.

_Life is unfair, remember that baby._

"FINE! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" Sakura willed herself to scream at him, he didn't flinch at her sudden outburst, but instead continued observing her from his chair, by her bed.

Slowly looking away from him Sakura closed her eyes once more, and hoped that she would sleep forever.

"Sakura, what have you done to yourself?" That voice…

_Discharged before she got here…cha as if—_

Tsunade stood in front of Sakura's bed, examining her, taking in the girl that lay before her.

She had received word that finally after three days Sakura had woken up. She was shocked when her former apprentice was brought in, because the only thing that reminded her of HER Sakura was those glazed emerald eyes. 

"Still ...Hokage, I received your message, and I told you I didn't feel like returning. Why did you even bother, I haven't broken any laws."

"Shikamaru, you may leave."

With a sigh and lazy stretch Shikamaru slowly made his way out of Sakura's hospital room. But not before he glanced back.

She looked helpless. Sakura was too thin, too pale, hair too blonde, lips too red, and her hospital clothes didn't do much to help her appearance.

With a deep breath and nod he disappeared from the room.

* * *

After a couple of minutes of silence Tsunade finally spoke, her voice emotionless and held no pity.

"You've changed. A friend of yours informed us of your… life style. As your former teacher I couldn't allow you to continue throwing away you life like this. So I convinced the council that you needed to be brought back, against your will if need be. I should have never let you run away from your problems, and now you've become—"

"Become what? A slut…a whore, I've heard them before. So what I had a couple of suggestive photos published in a few magazines, some of my lyrics seem to have double meanings, it doesn't matter—" 

"Sakura Haruno, I dare you to interrupt me again. Just because you left once, does not mean that you don't answer to me once your back. Remember I'm doing this for your own good, you'll be released later today, but you'll be watched. The council has decided not to punish you, considering what your condition was when you arrived here. However you'll have to follow strict rules, and will not be allowed to leave, it's called probation. They have yet to decide how long you'll be on probation. You'll be ready to leave in an hour. You're lucky, someone actually was okay with having to be your guard."

With not so much as a glace back at her former student, Tsunade left the room.

_So much for leaving this place forever 

* * *

_

**Devlin**

Strong firm fingers tapped away on the glass table.

"What do you mean you blacked out and don't know where she went? How does a pop star disappear without as much as a credit card trail! Mina, I like you, I really do, but you leave me no choice but to let you go, as in you're fired. Good bye."

Slowly taking a deep breath, Devlin leaned back into his leather couch, tossing his expensive cellular aside, and hoping that he had a plan.

The label was upset; Sakura/Cherry was supposed to be prepping for a concert. She should have been shooting a music video; already they'd lost millions, all because Sakura decided to play hooky for three days.

The only good thing that he had at the moment was that she had actually done a few of her photo shoots three to four weeks early, so her album's cover art and booklet were covered.

Devlin sat up; his clear grey eyes scanning the unarranged photos scatter around his clear glass table.

She was beautiful, he knew from the beginning that her looks would win over millions, talent or not.

Slowly reaching over and picking up the photo he had chosen for the albums' cover he examined it.

For this album he decided that she should for once be on the cover, in her previous albums she had chosen just to showcase her eyes on a black background. But since Sakura wasn't here for any input he picked out a photo she had taken a month ago for her concert posters.

There she was in all her beauty, blonde hair straight, green eyes begging for something that no one could give, wearing a black wedding dress that was a bit too tight on her cleavage. All in all she looked like a princess, the background was black, and the only color was coming from her pale skin, green eyes, and cherry red lips.

She was pushing at the walls surrounding her, almost as if she was begging to be let out.

He still remembered when he met her, almost six years ago working as a maid at the local upscale hotel near the record labels main office.

* * *

"_Hey I'm Devlin with Single Star Entertainment; I have a meeting with a…hold on. Hello Devlin speaking, oh really… that's perfect I didn't feel like listening to their singing anyways. Thanks. Bye."_

_Another out of luck singer couldn't make the meeting, perfect because personally he didn't see making any money in one guy with a guitar. Sure he had talent, but sometimes talent alone didn't bring in the big bucks._

"_Hey can I get some coffee?" He turned around to look at the waiter, who nodded back at him and went on to get his coffee._

_And that's when he saw her, maid uniform in all, her pink hair worn in a messy bun, and bright green eyes. She looked tired and he knew instantly she was going to be his number one star._

"_Hey, little miss pretty in pink, you clocked out already?" He called out to her as she made her way out of the hotel, he feared for a moment that she would ignore him but was soon relieved to see her stop in her tracks to turn and face him._

"_Are you… umm me?" She questioned and slowly pointed a finger towards herself._

"_Yeah, who else is pretty in pink in the room? You're a breath of fresh air. Come since you're obviously not on the clock; let's have a chat, maybe some coffee?"_

_Slowly a smile formed on her young tired face, her body relaxed as she made her way over to him._

"_You're a little creepy, but since I'm assuming you're going to be paying, do you mind buying me dinner instead… of the coffee I mean." She was innocent, he almost regretted thinking of her as new talent, and he himself knew what the industry did to those who were innocent._

"_Why you assumed correctly, I'll buy you dinner…" She smiled at him. _

_And before he knew it, it was a year later and she had already signed on with the label and was soon recording her first album. And even though the label was troubled about signing her, Devlin himself assured them that if she failed they could fire him._

_But as luck would have it, he was right; her looks got her what her voice alone couldn't. Sure Sakura could sing, but her voice lacked strength, but she made it all up with determination and hard work._

_Before her album was released she decided to color her hair blonde, the label was against it, but soon gave in. Her first album named "Cherry-Limited" soon hit stores, and her songs took over the radio stations, making her first album number one that year._

_Soon she was working on her second album, she was starting to have trouble, and he knew from the beginning after many late night talks that she had personal problems, so he decided a doctor would help. And the doctor did help, a quick fix he knew she would later regret, but she didn't want to see a therapist. Devlin did his best, trying to help her, he even made those around her sign agreements never to talk about her melt downs or odd behavior that occurred after interviews, photo shoots, video shoots, and recording sessions._

_Sakura was determined, she was also a great actress, on camera she looked happy and well, off camera she was dazed and unfocused. And even though he could see her falling apart, her second album "Always" was also a big hit, making it number one once again._

_Then her third album was released, she decided that since it was her third album that she should be allowed to have more say in what she would sing and what concept she wanted to go with. So was born "Striptease," which was her breakthrough album. Causing so much commotion that the label almost regretted allowing her to take so much control… but "Striptease" turned out to outsell her previous albums put together._

_She started taking more pills that year too, her drinking became constant. Although he sometimes regretted making her what she was, he also knew that if he hadn't… life as he and she knew it wouldn't be the same._

Slowly laying the photo of his number one artists down, Devlin began his search for Sakura.

I know everyones a bit on the OOC side.

R&R

-lulu


	5. Color

* * *

Disclaimer: I Still Own Nothing

* * *

"Your place…looks…nice, in a good way…"

Slowly Sakura did a full circle slowly taking in the apartment before her.

It was decent, the furniture didn't match, there was no television, the kitchen was plain, and from the looks of it…was never in use.

"You don't have to sound so ecstatic. It's not like your mansion, but it'll do." Shikamaru's voice called from the guest bedroom.

"Oh, you've heard about it? I like my house, it's the only thing I really own, I clean it myself you know...sometimes" She tried lamely to make conversation.

Slowly making her way into the small plain kitchen, she was amazed at how such a small space could fit so many kitchen appliances. To her left stood the refrigerator, the green refrigerator; across from it (about 4 feet away) stood an orange stove.

"I've never seen a tacky kitchen before…" She whispered to herself as she spotted the yellow toaster next to the bright pink coffee pot. And just as she was about to take a quick look into the refrigerator she suddenly felt as if she was being watched.

"Shikamaru… you don't happen to have chocolate?" She called out her question, as she slowly inched towards the giant green refrigerator.

_Do you really want to open it? What if something's still alive in there?_

"Na…" Sakura whispered to herself as her hand slowly reached out to grasp the shiny silver handle.

"Actually I do have chocolate, but it's not in there."

Sakura slowly retracted her hand and turned around to face him. He was leaning on the doorway, looking as lazy as ever, his dark eyes following her every movement; his dark clothes suited him well.

"So… things must be really slow, since you're stuck babysitting me, which by the way is stupid. I'm a big girl with a big girl job… I shouldn't even have been brought back." Sakura slowly hosted herself on to his blue kitchen counter and waited for his reply.

"The chocolate is in the cabinet behind your head." He sounded so cool and unfazed by her comment.

"Ah, who would have thought you'd be Mr. Cool and Collected. You've changed, what happened to your trade mark word "troublesome" or anything else along those lines?" She asked as she slowly lowered herself off his kitchen counter and proceeded to open the cabinet.

"It's simple, people change. I think the correct question is why has no one come to visit you? Even though they all know you're 'alive' after all." He asked her slowly and watched as she bit into her newly discovered chocolate candy bar.

"I bet everyone is bet unhappy with my return. Its okay, I don't like this stupid place anyways… I was the one that chose to leave, I mean fake my own death and then become a pop star. Which is a bit stupid, if I wanted to be "dead" then I should have laid low. Maybe the bleach is getting to me, ya know…" And then she ran out of things to keep the conversation going.

She began staring at her toe nails; they were lovely plastic looking white.

"Ah… let me show you the guest bedroom."

Reluctantly following him down the hall into her bedroom for the next couple of weeks, month's maybe, but weeks is what she was hoping for.

"It's all brown." Where the only words that came out of her mouth the minute her eyes set on her room.

"Yeah, well I didn't pick it. Naruto dropped a few of your things earlier; he'll be by later to leave some more things that you might need." Shikamaru turned on his heel and headed into his room.

"You're going to sleep?" Sakura quickly turned and asked his retreating back.

"Yes. Why?" He turned his head slightly, taking in her worried expression.

"I just, it's early, its nine—"

"You need to rest." And with that he slowly closed his door.

"Great." Turning back to her room she slowly tip toed in and closed the door behind her.

The room was not only brown; it was different shades of brown. The walls were all a nice light brown while the furniture was a dark chocolate brown. The bed sat in front of the window, the light brown curtains only blended into the walls, making it difficult to actually notice the window. The room itself was a nice cozy size and held no closet. Meaning she'd have to make do with the—

"That dresser is huge." Slowly making her way towards it she began opening the drawers and inspecting what Naruto had brought over for her.

Inside she found her old clothes along with a few items of clothing she had recently purchased.

"He folded my clothes." It slowly dawned on her, that while she was at the hospital Shikamaru had been at home making it presentable, and putting away her things carefully.

She closed the drawers and spotted a long curvy mirror on the bedroom door. Stopping in front of the mirror she slowly examined herself.

Her long blonde hair always looked foreign on her, she slowly reached up and touched her face, she looked a bit tired.

"I need sleep."

Her eyes began to wander down to her wardrobe which was not what she was wearing the day she was 'retrieved.'

They had given her a yellow dress that began bellow her collarbone and ended right below her knees. It made her look tiny, her arms looked too thin and it looked as if the dress would swallow her in.

"Who actually thought this would look nice on me?" She asked her reflection.

* * *

Morning came to fast; she found herself being shaken awake and tried swatting away who ever thought it was okay to wake her.

"Okay fine, what?" She mumbled as she lamely sat up in the surprisingly comfortable bed.

"Get up, we're going running." Slowly cracking open one eye she looked at Shikamaru who dawned comfortable sweats and a muscle shirt.

"Why don't you go ahead, I'll be here sleeping…" Sakura pushed him off her bed and rolled on to her side.

"No. You have to come… its part of your probation."

"What? Why do I have to go running?"

"I'm just following orders. Get up; you can use some of your old training clothes." And with that he got up and left her to get ready.

After locating her old shorts and a random t-shirt she use to own, she made her way out of her room and met Shikamaru to go running.

* * *

Panting and tired, Sakura finally collapsed.

"Go on without me… save yourself…Shika…" she managed to say to pant out to him, as she lay on her stomach on the ground, arms stretched out before reaching out to Shikamaru who was speechless.

He frowned at her and began to mutter to himself. All she managed to catch was…

"…woman…troublesome…damn job…need a life." Ever so slowly he crouched down before her.

And did nothing else but stare at her.

Then finally—

"You obviously stopped training." It was a statement, and all she did in return was stare at him.

"Well, I had better things to do." She finally responded rolling on to her back and focusing on the sky above her.

She heard him get up and make his way around to her left, as he slowly lowered himself onto the ground and began cloud watching.

"Cloud watching is very calming. Helps you out with problems, keeps your mind off of things."

"You must have lots of problems…as far as I could remember Ino use to say you cloud watched all day." She whispered to him.

"Why are you whispering, and no I don't cloud watch because I have "lots of problems." He whispered back to her.

Rolling her head to her left she narrowed her eyes. "Why are _you_ whispering?"

"Because you're whispering…"

"Well I don't know why I'm whispering."

"Let _just_ cloud watch in silence."

R&R

Thanks-Lulu


	6. Single Star

Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto.

* * *

The walls felt like they were closing in on her. The multi-colored room felt like it was slowly starting to close in on her.

It had already been a whole two weeks, her pink roots slowly showing, she hadn't bothered to do much, and the only company she had was Shikamaru.

Slowly gathering her long blonde locks, Sakura examined herself as she stared at herself in the mirror. Turning away she dropped her hair down and grabbed the outfit for the day.

Ever so gently she slipped on a shimmering, glittered white dress over her head, it was a low cut, giving a clear view of her assets, and it ended mid thigh. Sleeve less and almost see through the dress made her look as if she were going out for the night.

This dress was meant for expensive video shoots, parties, red carpet events, or a date. Naruto must have just grabbed the first things he managed to get his hands on in her closet, because the only things she had were her expensive dresses.

Signing she glanced down at her bare feet.

"His small mind wouldn't think to bring along any of my shoes." Examining her chipped nail polish Sakura slowly stretched her foot out to reach her white slippers.

In the past month she had come to realize that her probation was more like rehab.

"Welcome to rehab. Meet Shika he'll be helping you along with overcoming your alcohol abuse and drug abuse. Please enjoy your stay. You'll have no contact with anyone but him until told otherwise. Please keep in mind that the Hidden Village of Leaf, has never had to put anyone in rehab therefore there are no rehabilitation services here. But we'll do a bit of research and set you straight, best way we can. May your roots and show good luck…"Sakura grumbled to herself out load, as she lifted her hair and secured it into a pony tail.

_Those bastards!_

"Yes those bastards indeed. They could at least let me talk to people."

* * *

"I'm Devlin, Sakura's manager. She's been missing for two weeks now, and I've come to find out that she's been here all along."

Tsunade raised her eyes to the man before her, clad in an expensive suit and a carrying a small black brief case.

"And your point is?" She let the question hang in the air, daring him to bring up a good argument.

"Here are a couple of papers you should look into, Sakura's four year contract." Devlin elegantly reached into his brief and pulled out a black folder, handing it over to Tsunade he eagerly awaited her reaction.

Flipping the folder open, she skimmed through the contract quickly and then her eyes came to a sudden halt.

"You can't be serious—"

"I am, either she completes her end of the contract, or the label sues her for all she's worth, or more."

"This is her last year."

"That is true. But doesn't mean she doesn't have to complete it, the label has already lost millions because of her little disappearing act. Although it has made up for it in sales, seems a lot of people are interested, her forth album's single has been selling well." He proudly announced, as he watched Tsunade continue reading the contract.

Surly there could be some kind of loop hole, she quietly prayed for in her head.

"There is no loop hole, the label made sure of it."

Glancing up at him she put the contract down.

"She's in rehabilitation. I decided it would be best."

If looks could kill Devlin was sure that he'd be dead, but since they didn't he managed to smirk.

"Smirk all you want…tell your label she'll be able to work again in two weeks. And she'll only be able to work from here, we'll work out the world tour details later—"Rising up his right hand he motioned for her to stop.

"Good. We have an understanding. I'll be at this address," he flipped out a card from thin air and placed it neatly on her desk, "and be sure to give me a call soon."

He let himself out and once the doors were closed Tsunade leaned back in her chair.

"Her contract is iron clad." She spoke to the empty room.

* * *

"So how much longer do I have to be on this so called probation slash rehab?" Sakura glanced away from the clouds above and snuck a look at her keeper.

"I don't know."

Looking away from his handsome face she turned her attention back to the clouds floating gracefully above her.

Shikamaru was truly starting to enjoy her company. Once she stopped binging on chocolate, stopped getting frequent headaches, and had stopped being a 'pop princess.' It seemed that the drugs and alcohol had slowly left her system, and her eyes began looking bright. Although she was still broken, now there was only one more thing to do.

"Why did you leave?" His question hung in the air, waiting for a response that even he himself already knew the answer to.

"I don't really want to talk about it."

Taking a deep breath he sat up and looked down at her.

"You'll have to talk about it sometime, I believe now is the time."

"No it is not." Sakura sat up and made sure to look everywhere else but at him.

"You left a week before your wedding, Naruto fell apart. Sasuke, Kakashi, and Naruto spent days on end looking for your body." He watched as her face darkened, she allowed her blonde hair to fall, creating a curtain around her.

"I didn't love him the way I should have."

"So? You could have told him, Sakura I think he would have understood."

"No—I just needed to get away. I couldn't keep on living the way I was—I just…ugh just forget it." She quickly stood up and faced away from him.

"I don't want to forget it; you have to let it out Sakura. Why did you leave?" He slowly reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"…I couldn't stand it. I—just—"She swatted his hand away and turn to face him, her green eyes watered and held too many emotions.

"Couldn't stand what?"

"Everyone had a goal, a dream, I had nothing. I thought I wanted to be a medic-nin but in truth my heart wasn't in it. I trained hard, I learned so much, but it wasn't what I wanted. So a week before my wedding it hit me, I couldn't marry him. I couldn't live here in the place any longer, I wanted to see the world, be a civilian. You know—get a normal job, date a nice guy who works at a nice normal job, heck maybe even get married. You know what's so funny?" Sakura paused taking a deep breath. "I actually thought that being a house wife would be fun, I would take care of the kids my husband would work...It's not that I'm lazy, I just wanted normal—the suburban dream."

The wind picked up causing her hair to rapidly wave back and forth as her green eyes searched his dark ones.

"Go on."

"So I went to Tsunade for help, I told her I couldn't go on with the wedding. I let her know that I wanted to go in search for a dream. The kind of life I wanted to live. She's like a mother to me, she understood I needed out. She helped me leave, faked my death and everything. I was free—and it felt foreign." Turning away from him she focused on the scenery.

"So you were scared. Understandable, you went from living in a village to living in a city. Then what happened?"

Turning back to him, she smiled slightly and continued her story.

"She gave me enough money to help me settle somewhere, so I got a place to stay and set out to find a job. But the problem was I didn't know how to do anything, and the only place that hired me was this five star hotel. So I thought to myself I'll work here for a while, I'll stay here a bit. But I sucked at being a maid, and then I met Him. His name was Devlin, at first I thought 'wow what a smooth operator' but he offered me a job. He asked if I could sing, and I said no. But before I knew it he had convinced me to sing for him. And guess what I could actually carry a note."

Turning away from him she began walking, him following close behind.

"Before I knew I was selling records, doing private concerts, people requested me everywhere. I was the single star that was most wanted by every magazine. The minute my song went on the radio. It wasn't the life I wanted, but at least I wouldn't wonder if I was going to have a future or not, because I knew that I would with my singing career."

"You're not telling me the whole story, leaving to have a normal life isn't the whole reason. You could have done that here, could have just stopped being a medic-nin."

"You've always been so smart." She whispered to him.

Taking a deep breath she continued on.

"Part of the reason I left was that I couldn't stand watching Sasuke get married with your precious Ino, she knew he was dating me. But did that stop her? So she gets herself knocked up, and Sasuke being so noble and all marries her. And bam she's set for life. She has a family, house, husband, money, career, she's got it all!"

"So you were jealous of Ino?"

"No, I was upset, heartbroken really. He dated me and not once laid a hand on me intimately, I thought it's because he wanted to be married first, but sure enough he'd fuck her. And I'm sure their kids are just as perfect as they are, you know why? Because they have to be, in order to fit in…" She came to a stop at the edge of a cliff.

"When did the substance abuse start?" He questioned her quietly.

"I don't have a substance abuse."

He watched as she slowly lowered herself into an Indian style sit, and refrased the question...

"…when did the doctor start prescribing medication?" He asked as he too lowered himself to sit next to her.

"I'm not sure, but Devlin took me to the doctor, they wanted to have therapy but I didn't have time. So the pills helped me."

"What was wrong with you?"

"Honestly?"

"Yes."

"I don't know."

* * *

_Cha...I really don't want this story to be any longer than about 12 chapters. So I'll try to speed things along or make the chapters longer._

_-Lulu XOXOXO_

_R&R_


	7. Coke And Rum

Disclaimer: I Do Not Naruto. I just own the idea of this story and any characters settings or songs I've made up all on my own.

* * *

Shikamaru stood outside the Hokage's office, waiting patiently for her to call him in.

He had received a message early this morning informing him that she needed to speak with him.

"She'll see you now."

"Mmm…" He managed to give her secretary and small smile, a tilt of his lips really, as he made his way into her office, hands folded behind his head.

"Nara, how are things with Sakura?" She asked him as she drank her early cocktail drink she sometimes drank.

"She's no longer sleeping as much, she's gained a bit of weight, and hasn't had any contact with alcohol or medications." He replied emotionless.

She gave him a quick glance and then looked at her paper work, her eyes lingering on Sakura's contract with the label.

"She's going to have to start work again a bit sooner than we wanted. She'll start in a week in a half."

And with that he was dismissed.

* * *

Slowly opening her eyes Sakura scanned the small multi-colored apartment that belonged to her babysitter Shikamaru.

Ever so quietly she began tip toeing her way to his room. It was the middle of the night at she couldn't sleep. Meaning she could either lay in bed and wait till sleep came to her or bug her babysitter.

"Shika" She whispered and knocked once on his bright red door.

"Shika," She whispered again and knocked once on his door…again.

"Shika…Nara?" She began softly tapping on his bright red door.

Finally she heard a bit of grumbling and then the door was open, revealing a sleepy Nara in his white t-shirt and stripped pajama pants.

She slowly raised her hand and pointed to the multi-colored bottoms he had on.

"It was a gift. Now—what do you want?" He asked in a lazy sleepy voice.

"I can't sleep." She stated rather loudly.

In return Shikamaru only raised his eyes brows, and rubbed his neck.

"Mmm… and I can help out how?" He asked already regretting the question.

"Well I thought maybe I could sleep with you?" Her question didn't surprise him the least, in fact he had been anticipating it.

"Yeah, just don't do anything weird—" he motioned for her to follow him into his room.

Silently following him Sakura closed his bright red door, and ran towards his big comfortable bed.

"I've been meaning to ask you, why do you have such a big bed?" She asked as she pulled back his bright green comforter and began making herself comfortable.

He waited for her to settle in before he too climbed into bed with her.

"I didn't pick it." He stated as he faced away from her his back towards her.

"You say that about everything in this house, who picked it? I mean—stuff either doesn't match or its different shades of a color—"

"Ino picked out everything—before we broke up." He whispered to her.

Immediately Sakura felt horrible…

"I'm sorry." She said she as she lightly poked his back with her index finger.

She heard him sigh, as he shifted a little to make himself more comfortable.

"Yeah, well it doesn't matter," He responded.

She silently watched his back and slowly closed her eyes.

It was no secret that Ino had left Shikamaru once she had secured Sasuke, it was never occurred to Sakura that Shikamaru would keep anything that reminded him of her former best friend.

"Well…if it makes you feel any better, I'm starting to think she's color blind." Sakura whispered to his back.

"Maybe she was," Was the only response she got out of him.

And after five minutes she started to feel tired and welcomed the sleep that took her in.

Shikamaru listened to her even breathing as he laid there…now unable to sleep.

He knew Sakura was having trouble sleeping as of late, it was only a matter of time before she would seek him out. What he hadn't counted on was how much having a woman in his bed again after so many years would sadden him.

She didn't know it but Ino had died only a year ago, leaving behind two children. She would eventually find out that her friend had died, and he wondered how she would take it.

He looked around his bed room and wondered why Ino had always liked to miss match everything. When they had moved in together Ino had declared that she would decorate the house her way and that he would have nothing to do with it. And since he could care less and loved her so much he allowed her to do whatever she needed.

And at the time he hated the miss matched apartment, the bright colors and odd assortment of 'stuff' only annoyed him. Years later he found that everything that reminded him of her actually comforted him, he would pretend on some days that she never really left him.

He'd pretend that she'd come back.

It was pathetic really, that he would think like that some times.

* * *

Sakura couldn't seem to understand it.

But lately her brain had slowly started to fill in her blackouts.

"_Damn it. What the…" Sakura opened her eyes to look questionably at who she thought was Mina her petite assistant, but instead found Kakashi._

"_Well if it isn't my old teacher. You shouldn't sneak into my during the day! You're suppose to sneak in after dark…that way you get the whole show and then some." She giggled as she mixed her soda with some rum._

_"You look different Sakura," Kakashi's serious voice hinted to her that he was in fact unhappy with her._

_Well duh._

"_Yeah well…people change. How did you get in here? Well duh…mmm—say where the rest of the group…you know the fag and um… my ex-fiancé." She struggled not to slur her words as she spoke to him._

Sakura frowned and rolled onto her back, her eyes shut tightly hoping for her memory to fade quickly.

Signing she rolled once again on to her side, and tried once again to make her thoughts and memory to disappear.

"What is it?" She heard Shikamaru mumble next to her, his face hidden beneath the blankets.

"I can't sleep, I was sleeping fine…but now—I can t sleep." She stated and rolled over to face his—forehead. He seemed to like to sleep cover from forehead to toe.

"That's obvious. So what exactly is causing this "can't sleep" state?" He once again mumbled from beneath the blanket.

"…I keep having these flashes…of things that I think; I mean I know I did." She whispered to him as she slowly inched towards him.

"Sounds normal."

"Why is this normal?" She asked him, her eyes beginning to water.

"One blacks out after so many drinks, they forget a lot of things. You have been blacking out for some time now. After a while I guess you would start to remember them. It's part of the "healing" process I guess…" He grumbled as he slid the covers down a bit, so they now laid together staring each other in the eyes.

"I don't like this, this feeling of stupid, I feel dumb, and a whole lot of guilty." She whispered and tried to control her tears.

He could hear her tears coming, her voice becoming smaller and smaller. Every so gently he reached over and pulled her to him. Hoping that physical contact would make her feel better, after all everyone needs a hug now and then…

"Thanks Shika, I feel a bit better."

_I really want to move this story along a lot lot faster. Cha...But I'm okay with the pace right now._

_Enjoy-let me know what you think._

_XOXOXOXO-Lulu_


	8. Dirty Dancing

**:Standard Disclaimer:**

_Work_

Devlin looked stunning, dressed in an expensive suit and walking around the set in leather shoes.

"Okay Sakura, we want you to give us a bit of you know—some dirty dancing here as you sing. Got it?" Her director asked, he was a small man with big round glasses and red hair to match.

She glanced up at Devlin hoping he'd get her out of the dirty dancing; he only smiled at her and then began to talk on his new cell phone.

"Yes, dirty dancing…I got it." She responded with a nervous smile, when she glanced away from her manager.

Before when she dancing around provocatively (she found out after watching her music videos a few days ago) she had obviously not been sober. So today would be the first day in three years that she wasn't under the influence why shooting a music video.

"Okay, are you ready?" The director asked her, she nodded mutely.

The video was set in a club, a VIP room located in the club, and all she had to do was dance around and lip sing.

Before she knew what happened the lights went down low and the music started.

She began her dance (the one the choreographer had cooked up for her) and started to lip sync her way into her. Sure she had been out of most of the time in her last video shoots, but she soon found herself having fun and started to fix the dance to her liking.

Since Sakura was now better and obviously not in the state she was in when she came back home, Shikamaru was allowed to go back to work at the academy.

The ones left to guard her were Naruto, Kakashi, and Sasuke. Since she was once part of team seven the Hokage felt that it would only be right to allow them to watch her. Of course only one of them at a time was suppose to be on guard duty, yet all three were taking part.

They watched as she began her number clad in a black corset, biker shorts, fishnets and knee high boots. The boys—men couldn't seem to understand how she had transformed from their Sakura to THAT Sakura in a matter of seconds after the filming had begun.

Her champagne hair (with coral roots) was set into a wild sexy hair do; it was left down and fell down in waves around her. Her hair stylist had added pink extensions to the bottom of her hair and a few more pink extensions around her hair to balance out the roots, making it seem as if the pink wasn't her true color.

In short Sakura currently looked very punk and goth at the same time, her cherry lips curved wickedly as she sang and her flushed cheeks only made her look more appetizing.

"Sugar Pop Electric," she sang and ran her hands through her hair letting them fall at her thighs. She let her hands climb up her body; her right hand paused at her waist while the left continued up to her breasts.

She let her left hand linger for a few seconds before it continued on up to her neck, and then she looked down.

"Wow she looks so—"Sasuke whispered but was quickly cut off by Naruto's shaky hushed voice.

"Hot."

Her dance on the club floor continued on, every now and then the director would yell cut, and then they'd start from the beginning. Every time they began the song over at the part the direct felt needed to be redone Sakura only made her sex appeal rise.

"CUT! Okay everyone let's take five."

Sakura let out a sigh and waited for everyone to crowd around her, dabbing away her sweat, reapplying makeup, fixing her hair, and finally adjusting her outfit.

She awkwardly walked over to her chair and sat down, delicately stretching.

"That was impressive." She heard her former teacher say to her, she opened her eyes and examined him standing before her offering a sandwich and water.

"Thanks." She smiled and happily bit into the turkey sandwich and took a couple of sips of her water.

"No. I really mean it, who would have known you'd one day rival those books I always read." He chuckled as he took a chair and sat down next to her.

"I don't know if I should take that as a complement or an insult."

"It can go both ways." Was his only reply as he made himself comfortable watching the set, after all he was the one that was supposed to be guarding her for the day.

"Where are dumb and dumber?" She asked, as she chewed her food.

"Don't talk with your mouth full Sakura. They may just be exploring the set, knowing Naruto he may have already broken something."

"True." She looked around the set finally identifying an orange blob chatting animatedly with the director.

"How have you been feeling?" Kakashi suddenly asked her.

Sakura continued watching Naruto, smiled and bit into her sandwich.

"I've been feeling really nice. It's been tough, because I didn't realize how deep I was in until recently. Guess the crash rehab helped out…a whole lot." Sakura said as she swung her feet back and forth gently, as she finished off her water and sandwich.

"Okay everyone on set!"

"Ugh—back to work," She hissed to Kakashi, and with a peace sign and a bright smile she was off to stand on the clubs bar table.

"Alright, darling you'll be doing some bar dancing as you sing into this mike. The television screens will be showing green; we'll be adding you on them later. Otherwise have fun sugar." Devlin smiled to her and lifted her onto the bar table.

Sakura smiled as he patted her leg once she was standing. She glanced around the entire room, and silently prayed she wouldn't fall.

* * *

Shikamaru dismissed the kids and sat down at his desk, officially alone in the classroom for the day.

He let his thoughts wonder to Sakura, she was working on her first video for her album; she would be doing the rest of the videos for her next singles all in one month. It seemed a bit quick, but the label couldn't handle losing any more money, so they were making sure that if anything else did happen everything was secure for the album.

He hated to admit it but he had grown accustom to her living in his apartment. She made him feel better every day and he knew that it wouldn't last forever.

Because at some point she had to go back to living in the city, and pop stars didn't marry shinobi.

* * *

"Alright that's a rap!"

"Hey Sakura-chan, do want to go for some ramen?!" Her ever so loud once fiancé yelled to her as she headed for the dressing room, hoping to rid herself of her naughty attire.

"Sure Naruto, I'm just going to change and what not." Naruto accepted her answer and mentioned that he'd meet her along with Hinata.

_Who would have thought he'd marry Hinata…_

Once alone in her dressing room, she glared at her reflection.

The girl that stared back at her looked tired.

This wasn't what she wanted out of life, being a pop star wasn't what she had planned on. Dancing around on bar tables in front of cameras didn't feel satisfying. She wanted peace and quiet, she needed to feel at home and comfortable with herself, everything that she was not feeling at the moment.

Unzipping her boots she let her mind wonder back to Shikamaru, he would have been home by now. Maybe he was cloud watching, she had actually started to like cloud watching, until she was forced back to work. She knew that Tsunade had tried to keep her on her mini-vacation/rehab but things don't always turn out the way they should.

Wiggling her toes, Sakura stared at her fishnet clad feet; they were red, which was normal seeing as she just danced around in five inch heeled boots for more than eight hours. Letting the blood rush back into them, she sat back in her dressing room chair and chewed on her lip, tasting the lipstick.

"I wonder what he's doing—"

"Sakura, are you okay in there?" She heard Kakashi's muffled voice through her door.

"Yeah, just changing, I'll be out in a second." She responded as she slinked out of her clothes, soon replacing them with black sweats and a dark green hoodie she had stolen from Shikamaru.

"Mmm…smells just like him." She let her senses be overwhelmed and then proceeded to head out.

Even though she knew that she was falling for her roommate she knew it couldn't be.

_After all shinobi's didn't date pop princesses._

* * *


	9. Pink

**Standard Disclaimer**

* * *

"No…I mean pop princesses don't DATE shinobi." Shikamaru whispered to himself.

Even he knew it was hopeless, somewhere along the crash rehab he had fallen for the patient. In this case the patient was a pop princess who was emotionally unstable and would be clinically advised to not be in a relationship for a year.

Life was troublesome.

He let his mind wonder back to Ino, the one woman he once though he could spend the rest of his life with. He hated to think that she had cheated on him, but he knew he couldn't stop those thoughts.

Gently raising his head he silently prayed everything would work it's self out.

"Naruto, really I'll pay for it—"

"No, Sakura-chan," he said suddenly seriously, "let me pay." He smiled and reached over and fingered her hair absentmindedly, he quickly dropped his hand looked down then smiled big.

"Your hair looks funny, why did they make it so pink and blonde again?" He asked all traces of sadness gone as he paid for her ramen.

"I had pink roots, and all of my fans think I'm a natural blonde." She said in-between bites.

Hinata hadn't said much but inside she felt herself break a little, she knew that Naruto had never truly gotten over Sakura, and she had been okay with it—until Sakura turned out be alive.

Kakashi observed Hinata and felt deeply sorry for the young woman, heart break was written all over her eyes as Naruto kept accidently slipping into his old habits with his ex-fiancé.

"So Naruto, tell me about your wedding—with Hinata I mean. How did you two's relationship star?" Sakura asked as she played with her ramen, she could feel Hinata glare daggers at her.

"Well—"Naruto began with his story, how she asked him out, their wedding was huge and they were now hoping for a baby. Hinata blushed at his comment about how they were trying and thanked Sakura for bringing up the subject. After about an hour of conversation, Sakura admitted she was indeed tired and wanted to go to sleep. Naruto protested after it was just nine o'clock, Kakashi took her side and lead her away.

"Kakashi, where is Sasuke?" She asked her former teacher.

"He's home I presume." Was the only answer she got from him, and she knew it wasn't all of it.

"Oh, well of course." She smiled big and once they stopped in front of Shikamaru's door she turned her him.

* * *

"Thanks for being a great body guard today." She formed a peace sign and then turned her attention back to opening the front door. She sensed that Kakashi wanted to say something important to her but she wasn't too sure she wanted to hear it.

"Sakura, listen I'm glad you're alive." He said to her quietly as he reached out and twirled her to face him.

"…I umm." She couldn't seem to form a proper sentence; all she could do was stare at him, his dark eye searching hers.

"It's true, I missed you dearly. You were like my daughter… It hurt a lot to find out that you had 'died' and then it hurt even more to find that you lied to us all. But I forgive you, and I know that Naruto, Sasuke and the rest of your friends forgive you to. The truth is we're so happy to see you back again. We were shocked to see you the way you were when we first found you, but look at you now— you're recovering." He paused and then pulled her into a tight hug.

"Thank you. I think of you as my father too." She whispered into his chest and returned his hug.

She felt her chest tighten up and fought the urge to cry.

"Never leave us again, okay?" He kissed her hair and slowly released her from his bear hug.

"I'm sorry I left you in the first place." She smiled and then gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Once she had said goodbye to Kakashi, Sakura had set out to make some tea and settled down on Shikamaru's living room couch. The day had been difficult; so many emotions had been rolled up into one day. It was also the first day was allowed to interact with others other than Shikamaru.

_Where is he anyways?_

Placing her tea cup down on the coffee table, Sakura made her way over to his bedroom and opened it, knowing he wouldn't care is she opened it or not. She spotted him there, still in his uniform, lying in his bed; he hadn't even bothered to take off his shoes.

Sakura gracefully made her way over to his bed and gave him a nudge with her hand, signaling to him that she wanted him to scoot over. Once she had settled next to him she turned to look at him, he handsome face suddenly looked so young and if she squinted she was sure she would staring at the same old Shika from her pre-teen years.

"How was your day?" He asked his eyes still clothes, an arm rested over them.

"It was exhausting, I mean…geez look at my hair." Sakura watched as he turned his head and then smiled when his eye brows rose up high.

"That's different." He said and then yawned.

* * *

"Yes, it'll be different for the next video; they're going to bleach my hair again." She said suddenly feeling a bit sad over it.

"Why so sad about it?" He asked her.

"I kind of wanted to color it pink." She whispered.

"Then why not tell them that."

"My label doesn't like the idea. I already spoke with Devlin about it." She responded stiffly.

"Ah, that does cause a problem." He stated.

"Thanks a lot." She giggled and playfully pulled on his ear.

"Ouch, what was that for?" He pried her fingers off his ear.

"For not being at my video shoot, I could have used your support ya know." She scrunched up her nose when he rolled his eyes.

"I don't like pop music, it's like nails to a chock board."

"You're exaggerating, I think my music is a level higher than nails and boards an what not." She mumbled as she began crawling underneath his covers.

"And what exactly do you think you're doing?" He asked her as she settled into his bed.

"I'm going to sleep. After all I have another video shoot in the morning." She yawned and began to make herself comfortable.

"Yes but why in my bed, and when did you take that hoodie?" He asked and pulled lightly at the soft material that was his hoodie, causing him to dangle her arm in the air and then started tossing it back and forth in the air.

"Stop that, I took it this morning it was cold, and you didn't protest before when I slept in your bed before." She responded grumpily and yanked her arm away.

"Yeah well that was because you wouldn't have let me sleep otherwise." He responded as he began to get up and head over to the bathroom.

"Lier." She mumbled and snuggled deeper into his pillow, loving the fact that it smelled like him.

"I know." He whispered to himself once he got the shower going, as was behind the protection of a locked door.

"Why do I have to be in their video, plus why the hell am I a pole dancer?" Sakura screeched as Devlin pulled away the towel she was holding around her thin body.

* * *

Her outfit consisted of black leather underwear, her hair now a bit shorter and blonder, makeup heavy, and to top it off she felt very far from sexy.

_More like trashy._

"Look sugar, they're a new band and we want them to excel so that is where you come in." Devlin whispered to her as he pushed her towards the set.

"Oh great, they already think they're number one." Sakura whispered to herself as she spotted the band, four guys who didn't speak to anyone directly—they each had their own personal 'speaking person.'

"What was that sugar?" Devlin stopped his handsome face showed he was a bit amused.

"I don't want to speak to them, just tell them that…I'm sick, cha just tell them anything to make sure that I don't have to talk to them." She whispered to Devlin as they neared the group of soon to be famous young men.

"Going back to being a Diva again?" Devlin flashed her a big smile.

_When had she been a Diva?_

"When had I been a Diva?"

"Back when you were popping pills, drinking booze, and trying to sleep with me." He grinned and put his arm around her shoulders.

"Oh." Was her only comeback for his awful blast for the past.

"Now hurry up and go take your place on the table—your dance partner shall be the pole, and enjoy." He helped her onto the table and walked away, already opening his cell phone, she raised an eye brow when the band came and took their spots in the booth surrounding her table/dance floor.

"I don't think she a real blonde" She heard one of the band members (the ugliest of the group) whisper to youngest looking band member.

"Yeah, but she has a nice ass." Already she was rolling her eyes, resting her forehead on the cold metal pole; she just hoped that the video shoot would be over soon.

Sasuke stood by his children's room, he stared at their sleeping faces, and it was nap time. Their dark hair stood out from their matching light blue blankets, each held a small stuff dinosaur. Usually his wife Ino would be preparing food for their afternoon snack. But not anymore, the maids took care of that for him.

He didn't spend too much time with his twin boys; they both reminded him of his dead wife. Sure they both looked like him but both boys held their mothers eyes. Never in the history of his family had anyone been blue eyed, not until them, sure during training they both would hold identical red eyes. But 

most of the time, the twins eyes were blue. His sons Maddox (Ino thought it was a 'cool name') and Milo (at first Sasuke hated the name, but not anymore) hadn't gotten over their mothers death, she had just died in her sleep one day.

No one could explain her death, and it hurt him more to know that his sons would grow up without their mother. Glancing away from his sleeping children, he let his eyes stop at a photo of Ino and him taken a couple days before her death, he was giving her a piggy back ride, both smiled big as their children took an unsteady snap shot of them.

She died thinking Sakura was dead, she use to tell the children stories of her and her best friend. Whenever the boys would fight she'd sit them down and tell about her rivalry with her best friend. Sure the boys would gag because most of the time their mother was fighting over their father. But they would love to hear the stories and they even had a photo of Ino and Sakura hung up on the wall in their room.

* * *

_Sorry I haven't updated. I disconnected my internet, but I will update. _

_PeaceXOXOXO_

_-Lulu_


	10. Blue

Standard Disclaimer

* * *

After work she had washed up, stolen one of Shikamaru's muscle shirts and slipped on some overalls (old clothes she had forgotten were so comfortable) she stared at her feet, her white sandals stood out on Sasuke and Ino's porch.

Taking a deep breath Sakura knocked on the dark wooden door, it was a mansion she could tell, it looked like Ino was living well. It was odd how once Sakura had imagined herself living here in this house, raising her and Sasuke's children, growing old here…

Looking back down at her feet she waited.

…Her white nail polish was almost all gone.

She heard the door open and a small gasp, emerald met blue and all she could do was smile.

"Hi." Was all she could manage to say to the small boy, who looked exactly like a mini-Sasuke, but held Ino's bright blue eyes, lowering herself on to her knees, she smiled and held out her hand to the small child.

"I'm Sakura, is your father or mother home?" The child, nodded and grabbed a hold of her hand, his small fingers tightened and then he pulled her closer to him.

"Sakura? You were mommy's best friend right?" He whispered, his blue eyes searching her green ones. She looked different to him, her blonde hair didn't fit her, she looked thinner than in the photo's, but he would recognize her anywhere. She was the girl in the stories his mother had told him, those stories being his favorite. But she was suppose to be dead, hadn't his mother said this? She would always get quiet whenever he would ask her about Sakura, then she'd smile big and retell him his favorite stories.

"Oh, so you've heard about me? I had hoped Ino didn't tell you our rivalry stories." She giggled and then gasped as he pulled her into a tight hug. She hadn't caught onto the sadness in the small boy's voice; she simply hugged him back awkwardly.

"Milo, I told you to let the servants answer the door." Sakura looked over the boy's small shoulder and spotted Sasuke glaring at her a few feet away.

"I know father, it's Sakura, mommy would have been happy to see her…" Milo let go of her, stepping back, then lifted his right hand and slowly touched her face, his small hands memorizing ever detail.

"Would have?" Sakura questioned Milo then looked up at Sasuke, waiting for an answer.

"Milo, go finish your snack, then you and your brother need to go take a bath. I'll speak with Sakura, go on now." Milo turned away swiftly and ran back into the house, leaving Sakura in the presence of his not so welcoming father.

"Come in. I've been wondering when you'd stop by." Sasuke sighed and led her into his house, she noticed how mismatched a few things where, but it seemed Sasuke had only allowed Ino to a small amount of mismatching.

She smiled a bit and decided she would have to try and convince Shikamaru to redecorate.

_Yes redecorate._

Finally after a few turns down long hallways, she was lead into what looked like Sasuke's office, she settled herself into his bright red couch located by his desk, completely ignoring the chairs.

"I'll get right to the point, Ino died." Sasuke said as soon as he closed the door, he sat behind his desk; he had lit a cigarette and then turned to offer her one.

Sakura was speechless; he had said it so emotionless, was he kidding? And when had Sasuke picked up smoking.

"No, that's okay, I stopped smoking recently—"He cut her off with a grunt and then spoke.

"Oh yeah I remember, the Hokage orders you back, cleans you up and suddenly you're a saint." His voice was so emotionless, it didn't hint at any type of emotion, she watched as he smoked his cigarette, wondering why he was acting so mean. It shocked her really, up until now Sasuke had been polite, had watched her back while she worked on her music videos, had her hair done…maybe it had all been an act.

"What happened?" She whispered as she sunk deepened into his couch, hugging herself she waited for the worse.

"She just died, nothing was wrong with her; no one knows what happened really." He said, he tapped his pen, began reading a few papers, signed a few things, he was working, not bothering to look at her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

"Why? Because she died thinking you were dead? Don't be, I think it's best that she did die thinking you were dead. I mean look at you." He snapped at her suddenly, his dark eyes found her green ones and held them.

"I don't know what to say." Was all she could manage, taking a deep breath she tried to keep her emotions hidden.

"Don't say anything. She held you high up there on a pedestal, told our children stories about you, made them love a dead girl. Then you just end up being alive, drunk, drugged, and you make a living by singing and dancing on bar tables in music videos. No, I think it's best that she died thinking you were dead." He looked away from her; she angered him just by breathing.

"Shut up." She whispered fighting back the tears that threatened to fall. He stopped writing and just glared at the document in front of him, he was waiting for the rest of her defense, already planning on making her feel worse than she already felt.

"Just shut up. And who are you to look down on me? It was you who cheated on me, both of you betrayed me. You know what the worse part is?"

Taking a deep breath, she jumped onto her feet daring him to look up at her.

"The worst part is that you two didn't even say sorry. You acted as if nothing had happened; I was just Sakura the girl who was your backup. I just, I was so stupid. Who cares if she held me up on a pedestal, she may have just done it because she felt guilty. The Ino I last remember glared at me whenever I passed her on the street, she knew about us. You do know that right? Oh yes, she knew… she was not an innocent bystander. I have to go…bye Sasuke." She turned and left his office, left the man that once held her heart, and forced herself to not cry, she could hold out…at least till she got home.

Home, funny how she now felt more comfortable in Shikamaru's apartment than she ever felt in her house, but she knew it wouldn't last forever. Quickly making her way out she hoped she wouldn't run into anyone.

She didn't hear him walking behind her as she hurried out of the house, she only felt his small hand grab her wrist, willing her to stop and turn around. And she did turn around, and looked down at the small child; Milo seemed a bit too serious at the moment. When she met him a few minutes ago he was gentle, emotional, and the totally opposite of what he seemed now.

She angled her head and tried to pull her wrist from his surprisingly strong grip.

"Milo, I really have to go." She whispered, hoping her voice wouldn't hint that she was on the verge of tears.

"I'm not Milo." Was the child's only response, she didn't need to ask any questions because automatically she knew he wasn't lying, this child was the exact opposite of Milo.

"Then who are you?" She asked him, lowering herself to his level, his blue eyes watching her every move. He must have heard what she had said, yet he wasn't saying anything.

"I'm Maddox; I'll escort you to the door. Come…" And with that he walked around her and began leading her towards the door.

* * *

_-Lulu_


	11. Bossy

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO JUST THE STORY IDEA FOR THIS FAN FIC

Her appearance in the video of a one time small band (now an over night sensation) caused so much commotion. Her video had recently been released a few hours ago and already was number one world wide.

But inside she felt unhappy, nothing seemed to fill the deep gap she'd been feeling. Her encounter with Sasuke (the idiot) had felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders...but it also brought a guilty pressure-that just kept building.

She'd avoided everyone (except for her ex-team mates/body guards and co-workers) already her new video was ready to be shot. They were pushing her to make all four of them in such a short time. Life was slowly starting to blur.

Shikamaru had tried to speak with her a few times only to be ignored, she hadn't meant it...and yet she had did.

"Stupid town, stupid emotions." Sakura whispered to herself furiously, letting her blonde locks flare wildly around her as she sat high up on Shikamaru's roof, it was two in the morning and she hadn't felt like sleeping.

"Sakura." Tilting her head she acknowledged him.

"Shika." She whispered his name letting it drift into the night sky.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping? After all...you have another video shoot in a couple of hours."

"Mmm...I know."

"What is it now?" Tch he had every right to be bothered by her. After all their relationship just a few days ago had been blossoming and then it screeched to a halt.

"I don't think things will ever be the same. I left this town thinking that when I came back--if ever that things would be perfect, my life would be perfect.My career as a ninja has vanished and to say that I'm sad about it ...would be a lie." She told him, feeling him behind her, his eyes watching her lazily.

"Look, I think you need to sort out your own feelings, its time that you focus on you. Think about what you want, forget what everyone else wants and thinks. This is your life not theirs. Figure out who you are and what you want out of life. You understanding what I'm trying to tell you?" He whispered and then awaited her reply but it never came.

Instead she just turned to him, sad dim green eyes searching his.

"Alright "Bossy" is going to be a big hit. Trust me." Her manager said.

"Sure it will be, I just can't believe I thought this song was ...fun." She found herself talking to--well no one now that her manager had done his "pep" talk he was now GONE.

"Alright Ms. Cherry, this outfit looks great on you! And I must say that makeup is a work of art!" Her makeup artist all but pushed Sakura towards the full length mirror.

_The set itself was nothing but a huge white studio, the only thing needed were different colored lights, different dresses and such, jewlrey, and grey and white backgrounds._

The video started off slow, Sakura was first showed, the camera focusing on her face singing seductively into the camera, only wearing what looked like a strapless white wedding dress. Her hair fell down in curly waves around her, her Marilyn Monroe inspired eyes narrowed dangerously into the camera lenses. Her look was a cross of pure innocents and something else.

_Stop touching me  
Without permission  
Don't disobey  
Answer to me  
Said if you wanna play  
Follow direction  
We do this my way, my way, my way_

After thirty seconds the camera shows her crawling on all fours towards the camera in a tight black corset complete with matching lace panties, garter belt, and black thigh high stockings, no shoe's needed.

_What do you really want?  
What do wanna know?  
What do you wanna see?  
Where do you wanna go?_

_If you leave it to me  
We will not go slow  
I got places to be  
When you're ready let me know_

Flicking back in forth from her crawling around on all fours and her in nothing but a tight white strapless spandex body suit that stopped a few inches bellow her hips allowing viewers to see her red lace panties, her hair messy giving the audience all sorts of ideas.

_I'm just a little bossy  
I like it how I like it when I like it  
And that's how it is  
I'm just a little bossy  
You got a problem with it?  
If I want it I get it now_

Finally stopping at her singing into a diamond studded mic, her slender hands holding it tightly, (each of her fingers wearing white cold rings with white diamonds) this time the outfit is little black dress, her breast pushed up, glitter shimmering all over her. The lights around her turning every other color stopping a bit longer on darker colored lights.

_La la la la  
La la la la (I get it now)  
La la la la (I'm just a little bossy)  
La la la la  
La la la la (I get it now)  
La la la la (I'm Just a little bossy)_

The stopping on her, on her knees in her now shorter version of the strapless wedding dress. Her hair pulled up into a messy pony tail her lips a dark shade of red (were as before it was kept a light pink) her chicks a bit flushed.

_Trust Me  
You Want Me Happy  
Punishment can be severe_

_Please me  
And I will gladly  
Brighten up your atmosphere  
Let me shine for you  
Let me Shine For You  
Only if I want to_

The scene now randomly landing on different scenes from her lips matching every single word as the images of her switched back and forth...

Her wedding dress in the begging, the black langerie ensemble, the white body suit and lace panties, the mic and her, her and the now shorter wedding dress...

_I'm just a little bossy  
I like it how I like it when I like it  
And that's how it is  
I'm just a little bossy  
You got a problem with it?  
If I want it I get it now_

Then stopping again at her singing into the mic as the camera slowly circles around her.

_La la la la  
La la la la (I get it now)  
La la la la (I'm just a little bossy)  
La la la la  
La la la la (I get it now)  
La la la la (I'm Just a little bossy)_

Then once again switching to her looking innocently into the camera singing slowly and shyly.

_Oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh_

_Don't tell me no  
Don't tell me no_

Then stopping suddenly and rewinding the entire video, the music re mixing and stopping at her in the wedding dress smiling evilly into the camera as she begins to rip off the bottom half leaving her in only her white body suit and lace red panties accompanied by white thigh high stockings with red bows on them.

Throwing the now ruined wedding dress aside she advances towards the camera, her hands running through her hair and red lips drawing everyone's attention as she sings commandingly.

_I'm just a little bossy  
I like it how I like it when I like it  
And that's how it is  
I'm just a little bossy  
You got a problem with it?  
If I want it I get it now_

_La la la la  
La la la la (I get it now)  
La la la la (I'm just a little bossy)  
La la la la  
La la la la (I get it now)  
La la la la (I'm Just a little bossy)_

_I'm Just a little bossy  
I'm Just a little bossy  
_With a kiss towards the camera the screen goes black.

It was edited over night, and since before she didn't think she couldn't look even more slutty she was suddenly surprised as she blinked several times hopping that everyone in the office would say they could re-shoot and aim for something a bit more classy...but no...

"That was great!" Kakashi said happily clapping his hands...getting everyone else to clap with him.

_**Perv.**_

Shikamaru on the other hand could only feel his cheeks burn bright red. This was the girl he was secretly falling in love with, the girl who at the moment was wearing a lose grey t-shirt saying rock on and black dance leggings...

"I look like a _whore_." Was all she could say.

_Sorry I took so long to upload anything this couple of weeks. I totally got a new job (night job) and classes in the morning. Cha and top that off...I also didn't have internet for like **ever(3 months)**_

_Me addicted...hell yeah._

_Anywho I just wrote this chapter and didn't really feel like getting into any real drama so i just totally decided to have her make another music video._

_The song **Bossy is by Lindsay Lohan** check it out, it's pretty catchy in a pop kind of way._

_Over & Out_

_-Lulu_


	12. Undone

**_Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or it's characters._**

**_Undone_**

She woke to a start, her eyes slowly scanned the dark miss matched room. She could hear his breathing.

It was an accident really, or not, but the night ended with her and the man beside her having slow tender sex that was almost too much at the time and yet made her stomach fill with butterflies. In reality one could say it wasn't "just sex" it was more, she was sure of it.

How he stared deep into her eyes from the beginning, breaking eye contact just to kiss her breathlessly and leave butterfly kisses everywhere.

She felt so naked (not that she wasn't already) as they both stopped for a second as he positioned himself over her and silently asked with his eyes if this was what she wanted. And to say that she didn't want him would be a lie, so she only nodded and then closed her eyes as she felt herself go over the edge.

...His head on her stomach as he slept, and she reached out to play with his hair, she'd never seen it down before and now she wondered why he even kept it up.

"That feels good." She heard him whisper, his hot breath tickling her stomach causing her to blush a bit and then feel her heart swell with ...love?

Love.

"...what now?" She asked him, ruining the moment she was sure of it.

"Now? We sleep, or go another round...and then sleep. I like the second option better." He smirked, and the let his hand wander down her hips to stop just where she wanted him to.

"I...uh...that feels..." She couldn't really think of the right words and closed her eyes and let him have his way with her.

**A COUPLE OF HOURS BEFORE...**

* * *

Walking home (or to Shika's) didn't take her very long. She just needed a drink, which she wasn't allowed.

She felt hot with embarrassment, they were going to release that smut to the entire world and she would have to ...let it happen.

"Fuck." She whispered as she slashed cool water onto her face in the small multi-colored kitchen.

"I thought it was...good." She hear a small whisper from behind her.

"Well of course you would, you're a guy. It even got a reaction from stupid Neji! His face was red. Oh my gosh imagine the entire male population?! Screw that...the women alone. And then all the attention. If I wasn't considered a "whore"...in fact I think this just nail that title on me real well!"

Closing her eyes Sakura tried to focus her attention on slowing her breathing, being upset wasn't going to change the fact that the whole world was going to witness her in naughty underwear.

"I thought you looked...nice."

She should have noticed that he was a lot more silent than normal...

Quickly turning around to look at him she suddenly felt very small and her body suddenly felt hot all over and this time it had nothing to do with embarrassment.

"Nice?"

"I liked the...red underwear."

"...red? Shika-" Breathless that's what he was making her feel. Already he had closed the distance between them, she couldn't focus on anything but him. His dark eyes never left her face, and she felt herself leaning into him as he suddenly started to kiss her slowly and tenderly. Something no one had ever really done before.

He stopped for a moment.

"I really like you, alot. And I'm sorry I just couldn't help myself. I understand if..." And he never got to finish his apology as she ignore it and start to kiss him.

At that moment nothing really mattered. After all she had already grown close to him over the past weeks.

He somehow managed to undress her quickly and before she knew it that had already crashed onto his bed. He was everywhere all at once and she needed him everywhere all at once.

:slowly and gradually she woke up again after a while to find herself alone in bed:

The clock said it was after one in the afternoon.

Not that it really mattered, after all today was her day off, meaning she would have been home anyway's...

"mm mm...home," she whispered to herself letting the word fall into empty space and hang over her.

Slowly getting up she found that she felt lazy and amazingly refreshed, her body felt so loose and light.

"I bet I'm glowing too..."

_Sex is great. _A small voice whispered at the back of her mind, causing her to giggle and unwillingly remember a conversation that took place so long ago.

* * *

"Sex is good forehead! It's a way to release stress, its also good for you skin. Hey don't look at me like that." Ino smirked and poked Sakura's head with her index finger. Sakura merely grumbled and continued trying to study.

_"Why again are we having this conversation...this LOUD conversation in the middle of the day...in a library?" Sakura whispered quickly trying not to make eye contact with anyone and slowly wheeling away her chair from Ino._

_"Yeah...well anyways I say you do it. I say you go over there right now and just let him fuck you every which way, trust me it'll loosen you up and you'll feel refreshed. And then you'll pass your test and won't get on my nerves so much." Sakura merely rolled her eyes then turned to look at Ino._

_"So ...you and ah...Shika--"_

_"Yes, we do the naughty all the time, I just love it. And he never complains!"_

* * *

Suddenly her smile died as quickly as it had come. It dawned on her then... could she really be happy with him with the ghost of Ino living in every inch of his apartment and in her heart?

It came right down to it, her emotional problems, all connected with Ino, the problem was that Ino had died and she would never be able to tell her how much it hurt...

Tugging one of her lovers shirts on and pulling on a pair of his clean boxers Sakura made her way out of his room, listening for him and finding him in the small kitchen.

Clad only in his boxers (he had pulled his hair up in his trade mark hair style) and making breakfast. At the moment he was concentrating on not burning the bacon. The cooking oil popping and specks of oil spring out to burn him a bit made his roll his eyes and mutter a few things, made her smile a bit.

"Ah the master chief." She giggled more when she found that he had indeed over cooked the bacon.

"Troublesome." He sighed and gave up on the bacon all together. He had managed to make pancakes and coffee...which was fine by her.

"Thank you." She whispered to him as he kissed her on the forehead (something that no one had ever done also) he looked at her then tugged on her (his) shirt with a thin dark brow raised up in question.

"I like your shirt better than mine." She somehow couldn't bring her voice out of it's whisper state and found that he didn't seem to mind.

"I've always liked you in my clothes, I like you out of my clothes, I like you in your clothes, I like you in any state, my favorite however is...explicit." He whispered into her ear causing her to blush like a love struck school girl.

"It seems you liked me a whole lot in red laced underwear." She mummered back to him kissing him lightly waiting for his response.

"I'm going to buy that music video when it comes out." He nodded grinning even more at her frown.

"However... I don't like the idea of everyone else seeing it." He confessed receiving another light kiss and then a deep kiss.

"I don't either." She smirked and stole his coffee and walked out of the small kitchen and into the living room turning on the new plasma television she had convinced him to buy.

Hearing him groan as he fixed himself another cup of coffee, she turned on to the television.

_**Okay...Yes I Didn't feel like writing out the sex scene in great detail. So I'll leave it to the imagination.**_

_**R&R**_

_**-lulu**_

_**p.s. sorry it took so long to update. i'm busy as always--work--sleep--shopping--ugh school.**_


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